Simple heuristics in a social world

Ralph Hertwig (Center for Adaptive Rationality; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin)

The social world is a terrain where humans and other animals compete with conspecifics for myriad resources, including food, mates, and status, and where rivals grant the decision maker little time for deep thought, protracted information search, or complex calculations. Yet the social world also encompasses domains where social animals such as humans can learn from and forge alliances with one another to boost their chances of success. According to the talk’s thesis, the undeniable complexity of the social world does not dictate cognitive complexity as many scholars of rationality argue. Rather, it renders optimization impossible or computationally arduous through intractability, the existence of incommensurable considerations, and competing goals. With optimization beyond reach, less can be more. That is, heuristics—simple strategies for making decisions when time is pressing and careful deliberation an unaffordable luxury—become indispensible mental tools of social rationality. The Homo Socialis may prove to be a Homo Heuristicus whose intelligence reflects ecological rather than logical rationality. Drawing from different domains such as parental investment, strategic games, and medical decision-making, I will discuss how social heuristics can make us smart and also point out some of their limitations.